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about tai chiby Sue Weston

aT'ai-Chi Ch'uan - The Ultimate and Supreme form of Boxing, or Ultimate, Supreme form of Boxing, is a physical philosophy encompassing healing, meditation and self-defence.

T'ai Chi is a moving meditation that cultivates a calm mind and a relaxed everyday awareness. It helps the practitioner to be awake and attentive to living life in the present and to let go of worry, constant planning and gnawing fears. Gradually through its regular practice the mind becomes calmer and clearer.

T'ai Chi is a generic name for many different streams of work. Its study has many types of practices, the most well known being The Form. The beginner usually learns a short form that can take from thirty weeks to two years to learn. The form I study and teach is The Yang Style Short Form and comes to us through the lineage headed originally by the Chinese T'ai Chi master, Cheng Man-ching.

The form is made up of different postures, each one having its own martial art application. The postures flow together in a slow and beautiful dance, a moving meditation. When I practice each morning, in my garden if the weather is clement, I am aware of having a treasure trove of knowledge contained in every posture. Each day the form enables me to balance and focus afresh.The practitioner can use T'ai Chi purely for physical health and relaxation. The practise of the slow flowing postures help to strengthen bones and relax the practitioner.

The moves also help to calm and clear the mind. T'ai Chi is like waterless swimming, as the practitioner appears to be flowing weightlessly through the air. This manner of movement requires a lot of strength and control in the lower legs and abdomen. Increased strength gradually builds through regular practice. The movements of the arms are especially useful in helping to develop better breathing habits. A deeper slower breath helps general health as well as instantly calming the mind. And T'ai Chi is renowned for strengthening the back. After even a few weeks, new students report that long-term lower back pain is beginning to ease. The spine is very important in its practice and is referred to as 'a string of pearls'. The string of pearls is imagined as starting slightly above the top of the head and hanging freely down to the base of the spine. This helps to develop a long wide back with a free neck and relaxed shoulders. The upper chest is softened and hollows into the body and the stomach relaxes and moves with the breath thus massaging the internal organs. This is very helpful in aiding digestive conditions and keeping the other organs of the body healthy. Students gradually grow into their full height through their lengthening, loosening and straightening backs.

Stamina grows as general health improves and students have often reported that they breathe far more easily than before they started to practice T'ai Chi.The philosophy, study and regular practice of T'ai Chi can help a student to live happily and healthily. T'ai Chi has been one of the most wonderful gifts I have had in my life over the past nineteen years. My journey to T'ai Chi came through an injury sustained during my professional dancing career. I knew absolutely nothing about it except that it was slow and my injury required me to be slow, very slow, in order to maintain movement. I am grateful that I found T'ai Chi. It has been an illuminating presence in my life all these years, and continues to be so, filtering into every aspect of every day life.